Monday, January 22, 2007

Purpose..

Its a cold clear night here in Powai. Despite my efforts to think about the new currencies making the most noise (QQ and the Linden Dollar), my mind wandered off to something more troubling. All triggered by things like Second Life (www.secondlife.com). Somehow, the more I thought about Second Life, the more it seemed that life in the real world is about as futile as a life inside SL.

For some reason, we have decided that one should try to live longer. We have arbitrarily decided that one should have affection for other beings and not be selfish. We run about in a frenzy, trying to make more money or build more buildings and create more music. Yet all this is nothing but an effort to ease life which inherently seems to have no purpose. Some mystics suppose that the purpose of life is to find communion with God (a God which we ourselves have created). Yet others suggest that the purpose of life is to achieve Nirvana (i.e., the purpose of life is to get out of it). Still others recommend that the purpose of life should be the pursuit of knowledge. And the hedonists of course urge us to live for pleasure. Yet all this still begs the question - why is there life in the first place?

Meanwhile, life goes on. Now that I am here, I'll go with the pursuit of knowledge and happiness as the purpose of my life. God can wait. And so can Nirvana. I'm still not tired enough of being around.